Bow Bench Project

Back when I started learning how to make wood bows I put together a simple bench using 2" x 12" Douglas Fir and an inexpensive bench vice I had laying around. It didn't work out too bad but it doesn't break down and is pretty heavy to throw in the back of the truck.
I've been looking for something a little better. Essentially, I wanted a shaving horse that I could disassemble to take to events or gatherings. Now that I'm doing SCA events again, I really wanted something that would work well there, too. For a variety of reasons I can't sell my wares at all events so I figured if I took a bow bench and made a spectacle of myself shaving wood I could hand out business cards if someone had an interest.
Lo and behold, I found what I needed. While reading back issues of various magazines I ran across the Fall 2005 issue of The Bowyer's Journal (since changed to Trad Archer's World). In the magazine were plans for building a Bowyer's Bench, just what I needed.
The plans didn't look too difficult and they used lumber and hardware I could get at my local home improvement store. The only exception was the leg brackets. I couldn't find them in a local store and ended up ordering the Grizzly G3312 Saw Horse Brackets from Amazon.com.

For your reading pleasure, here is a pictorial journey for the construction of my Bowyer's Bench:

Gotta start somewhere. Tools are gathered, the plans are handy, the first cut is for the bench itself.

Ok, the legs are done.

Here's one of the Grizzly saw horse brackets. Pretty cool design, actually. The wingnut forces the wedge down to hold the 2 x 4 legs tightly in place yet the whole thing may be removed easily. Just what I need.

So far so good. This is going to be an easy project. I'll have it done in a day.

A couple holes need to be cut in the top of the bench for different members to fit through.

Um, yeah... I discovered that my jig saw doesn't saw straight up and down. I don't know if it's the saw or me, I suspect the latter. So some clean up is necessary when I use the jig saw.

I'm supposed to cut what and put it where!!??

The bench top also gets a hole.

I dearly dislike circular saws. To tell the truth, they scare the crap out of me.

This hinge block goes under the bench top and over the bolt for the saw horse bracket on one end. Since I wanted to be able to remove that bolt for transportation I elected to purchase a longer one at the hardware store so it could go all the way through this hinge block for removal when necessary.

I may end up re-making this piece at a later date. The bench top pedestal gets holes drilled through it so it can be moved up and down to raise and lower the bench top. A piece of steel rod goes through the holes to hold the adjustment. When I drilled the holes (not shown here) I managed to drill them in a decidely un-straight manner. Just for my peace of mind I may re-make this later and try to drill straighter.

Figuring the angles on this was interesting. I had to email a recent college graduate to ensure I was doing it right. He asked his wife. Thanks, Paige!

Cleaning up after the jig saw.

It's starting to look like it may work.

After carefully measuring and cutting the slot for the foot pedal I had to remove a little wood for a perfect fit.

It's too small... too small... too small... crap, now it's too big.

I needed four of these pieces for the clamp head.

Stacked up, screwed together, and ready to be bolted.

Cleaning up after the jig saw again. This is the piece that holds down the stave being worked on so I wanted it to be right.

I may not be able to saw, but apparently I can rasp.

Not too bad. It actually does hold a stave pretty well. I still need to stain it and put on a protective finish of some kind as well as figure out if I'll decorate it in any way.
All in all, it was a little more difficult than I expected it to be but it really wasn't very hard. The foot pedal support seems a little long and after using it I may decide to shorten that piece and re-install the foot pedal.
And, uh... yeah... it did take longer than a single day. 
Other than that, not bad!

I was way too busy and preoccupied to take pictures of the process so I can't thank Fayme enough for taking over that task and for doing such a great job.

Happy bow building!